Wireless
Network Security
To connect your
computers together has traditionally involved having some physical
medium running between them. It could be phone wire, coaxial cable
or the ubiquitous CAT5 cable. Recently hardware has been introduced
that even lets home users network computers through the electrical
wiring. But, one of the easiest and least messy ways to network
computers throughout your home is to use wireless technology.
It is a fairly
simple setup. The Internet connection comes in from your provider
and is connected to a wireless access point or router which
broadcasts the signal. You connect wireless antenna network cards to
your computers to receive that signal and talk back to the wireless
access point and you are in business. But a hacker searching for
insecure wireless connections can get into your systems from a car
parked on the street so that you need Wireless Network Security
systems.
That doesn’t
mean you shouldn’t use wireless networking. You can use any Wireless
Network Security system for it. You just have to be smart about it
and take some basic precautions to make it more difficult for
curiosity seekers to get into your personal
information.
Astaro is one
of the best Wireless Network Security software. Astaro provides six
essential security applications in one easy-to-manage package that
protects organizations from hackers, viruses, worms, spam and other
threats to security and productivity. Astaro Wireless Network
Security Linux offers firewall, virus protection, spam protection,
VPN gateway, URL filtering and wireless security capabilities.
A unified
management platform makes it easy to deploy, administer, and update
a complete network security solution with surprisingly little cost
and effort. The Wireless Network Security software can be installed
on a standard Intel PC, or purchased pre-installed on a variety of
security appliances. Based on the best of open source security
software, Astaro Wireless Network Security software Linux has won
numerous awards, and is in use on over 10,000 networks in 60
countries. Astaro has offices in North America and Europe, and Astaro Security Linux is distributed
by a worldwide network of solutions
partners.
The actual
performance of your Wireless Network Security depends on a number of
factors, including:
- In an
Infrastructure environment, your distance from the access point.
As you get farther away, the transmission speed will decrease.
- Structural
interference. The shape of your building or structure, the type of
construction, and the building materials used may have an adverse
impact on signal quality and speed.
- The placement
and orientation of the wireless devices.
There are so
many products which provide several Wireless Network Security
features, but they require specific action on your part for
implementation.
While the
following is a complete list, steps A through E should, at least, be
followed:
- Change the
default SSID.
- Disable SSID
Broadcasts.
- Change the
default password for the Administrator account.
- Enable MAC
Address Filtering.
- Change the
SSID periodically.
- Enable WEP
128-bit Encryption. Please note that this will reduce your network
performance.
- Change the
WEP encryption keys periodically.
Here is another
Wireless Network Security tips: You've just bought a wireless router
so you can use your laptop all over the house. You get it all setup
and surprise, surprise it works. Now that should be the end of it
right? Wrong. The default setup for wireless networks is setup to
get the network up and running but does nothing to protect your
network. The default setup will let anybody with a wireless network
card with in range to connect to your network. If your ISP charges
you for going over your monthly download limit on your internet
access and some one is using your internet access to download tons
of stuff, you will get stuck with the bill! Not to mention they
could access your files on your computer. What can be done to
protect your network? Well the following steps should help you
secure your network. Remember there's no such thing as a totally
secure network but we're gonna try and make it as damn hard as it
can be to get into:
Password
Protect Your Routers configuration page: Most wireless routers use
an internet browser to access and configure the settings. Make sure
you password protect this so no one can change your settings. If it
has a default login and password change it. Use WEP Encryption: Now
WEP encryption isn't completely safe, in fact it can be hacked. But
it will be one more thing to get past before getting into your
network. WEP uses an encryption key that the router and all wireless
cards in your network will use to get access to each other. Key
sizes are usually 64 bit or 128bit, though Dlink does have some with
256 bits. Use the highest encryption rate you got. Also make it a
habit of changing your WEP key ever week or so
for.
Turn off SSID
Broadcasting/Beaconing: By default your router will be broadcasting
the name of your network. Turn this off. Every computer in your
network must be set with your matching SSID.
MAC Filtering:
Every Wireless Network Security device is assigned its own
alphanumeric serial code called a MAC address. Your routers config
page should be able to tell you what your Wireless cards MAC address
is.
Note down the
address or addresses if you have more than one wireless connection.
In your routers configuration enable MAC filtering and add the
wireless card(s) MAC address (es) to the list of MAC addresses the
router will accept. If your router encounters a MAC address that's
not on the list it won't get through.
Here is another
Wireless Network Security product: More than 1,800 customers
worldwide trust AirMagnet to keep their Wi-Fi networks secure and
performing well. AirMagnet Mobile products go with you anywhere, and
AirMagnet Distributed delivers 24*7 worldwide monitoring for
enterprise networks.
Their valued
customers trust them for:
- Wi-Fi
security policy management
- Wireless
intrusion detection
- Rogue AP
Detection
- Connection
troubleshooting
- Trending,
reporting and capacity planning
- Site surveys
